IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

FAMILIARITY has bred respect, even

affection, for the typical costume of Charles I.’s reign, and that unfortunate

monarch himself, depicted by Van Dyck in sombre coat and lace collar, is

amongst the dear intimacies of our daily life. Sir Peter Lely, who followed on

the footsteps of Van Dyck, left many modish records of his time, and though he

has been rated for dressing his nymphs in inappropriate extravagances of

fringes and embroidery, he undoubtedly clothed lovely woman with an excellent

fantasy, bestowing height and grace by the length and simple disposition of his

drapery. Mignard, the French artist, also wrote a page in fashion’s history in

his paintings of the Court ladies as Madonnas ; covering the vanities of the

sinner with the mantle of the saint, he was much sought after for his pains.

The main features of feminine costume in

Charles I.’s reign may be realised in recalling the dresses which have so often

appeared to delight us in the various presentations of stage plays of his

period ; the bodice is tight, the basque square and tabbed, and round the waist

are a few folds of silk fastened into a rosette in the front ; the 66 lace

collar falls from the neck to the shoulders in deep points, and the ringleted

hair bears a ribbon rosette, or is surmounted by a plumed hat.

Henrietta, Queen of Charles I., is

accredited with the introduction of female labour for clothing the outer woman,

and from her day mantle-making ranked among female occupations. But the tailor

still ruled supreme, and though the sex of the milliner was the more

sympathetic, it was left to the next century to popularise feminine services.

The farthingale extended its circumference

The farthingale extended its circumference

in the reign of James I., when much effort was taken to suppress it, for the

King declared it occupied more room at his court than he himself. The ruff

flourished, but less obtrusively than in the preceding reigns, and in its place

was adopted what was known as a fall, a loose band overhanging the top of a

wide collar starched and frilled at the base—a fancy some merry writer of the

period noted with the epigram :

A question ’tis why women wear a fall ?

The truth on’t is, to pride they’re given

all,

And pride, the proverb says, will have a

fall.